Tobacco stem rolling and leaf booking machine



APPLICATION FILED MMLZS, 19%9.

Patented Aug. 16, 192 1 3 SHEET$-SHEET G. H. JACKSON.

TOBACCO STEM ROLLING AND LEAF BOOKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.25.19!9.

Patented Aug. 16, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

2 314 WM Z 5 G. H. JACKSON.

TOBACCO STEM ROLLING AND LEAF BOOKING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR.25.1919.

1 ,3 87, 545 Patented Aug. 16,- 1921.

a SHEETS-SHEET z: if 23 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OR TO UNIVERSAL NEW YORK.

TOBACCO STEM ROLLING AND LEAF BOOKING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 16*, 1921.

Application filed March 25, 1919. Serial No. 284,964.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GRAHAM H. JACKSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tobacco Stem Rolling and Leaf Booking Machines, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to an improved ma chine for treating and booking tobacco leaves, by rolling or crushing the leaf stem without injury to the leaf and in such a manner that the stem may be used for the purposes of leaftobacco, and then booking the leaves with the stems thus treated, the particular object of the invention being to provide such a machine which shall be efficient in action and at the same time simple, compact and durable, and in which all the parts are readily accessible for observation, cleaning and repair.

For a full understanding of the invention a detailed description of a combined leaf treating and booking machine embodying all the features of the invention in their preferred forms will now be given in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and the features forming the invention then specifically pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an end elevation of the machine, from the gear side;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation looking to the right in Fig. 1, with parts broken away to show the construction;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 33 of 2;

Fog. 4 is a horizontal section through the stem rolling mechanism on the line 4.- i of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail plan of the lower roll mounting, partly sectioned to show the knife pivot;

Fig. 6 is a detail vertical section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 7 is a detail horizontal section on the line 7-4" of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, A. is the machine frame; B, C the upper and lower stem rolling or crushing rolls; D the swinging frame in which these rolls and coacting parts are mounted; E the feed board over which the leaves are fed to the rolls B, C; F the booking roll, and G the booking belt, which is extended forward close to the rolls B, C, and acts to carry the leaves from these rolls, a single continuous belt being shown, gltlltiough it may be divided into two or more The rolls B, C are preferably plain metal rolls, although they may be otherwise formed for special treatment of the stem, and are mounted in sliding boxes 10 spring pressed apart by intermediate springs 11, against the tension of which the upper boxes 10 are adjustable by set screws 12 so as to secure accurately the relative positions of the rolls required for crushing or flattening the stems without crushing or otherwise injuring the leaf, and hold them positively in this position during operation. This is especially necessary in connection with the tip of the leaf, as this is most liable to injury. The leaves are preferably fed butt first, as shown in Fig. 4, but may be fed tip first.

lVith the top roll B coacts a scraper or knife 13 to assure removal from the roll of the crushed stem and leaf, this knife 13 being carried by arm 14 pivoted on bar 15 for adjustment and locked thereon in adjusted position by set screw 1, the bar 15 being carried by arms 16 mounted to swing on roll frame D and held in working position with knife 13 pressed against roll B, by spring 17 against the tension of which the arms mays be rocked to draw the bar 15 and knife 13 upward and away from the roll by handle 18. The scraper or knife 19 c0- acting with the lower roll to assure the removal of the stem and leaf is carried by bar 20, which also carries by arms 21 the freely rotating roll 22 around which passes the front feeding portion of belt G, bar 20 being in turn carried by bar 23 in which is mounted by arms 24 the freely rotating hearing or tension roll 25 of belt G. The belt pres sure on roll 22 holds the knife 19 against the roll in the proper position and under the required tension in any position of the roll. The knife 19 is preferably supported in arms 21 by simply being set into slots in the bar, the knife and arms being provided with shoulders at the ends to hold the knife in position longitudinally, so that the knife may readily be removed for cleaning when withdrawn from the roll.

As shown clearly in Figs. 5 and 6, in connection with the bottom knife 19, both knives 13 and 19 are mounted by horizontal central pivots 26, so that these knives with their carrier bars, and, in the case of the lower knife, with the roll 22 and portion of the belt G passing around it, rock vertically on this central pivot in such a manner as to follow the surface of the rolls B, C, with which they coact, as the position of these rolls may change by movement in the operation of the machine, thus assuring proper action of the knives in cleaning the rolls and of the front end of the belt in receiving the tobacco. The knife 13 is preferably simply slipped over the pivot stud 26 so as to be readily removed for cleaning when withdrawn from the roll.

Above the rolls 22, 25 and the portion of the belt G running over them, and supported by pivoted bar 20, is a bar 27 which may be held simply by being provided with openings through which it may be slipped onto pins 2 on bar 20, this bar 27 carrying a guide plate 28 above belt G, the portion of this guide plate next the rolls B, C being divided into fingers 3 entering between the sections. of disk roll 29 mountd to rotate freely in arms on bar 27. At the rear end above roll 25 this guide plate is preferably provided with openin s 4 through which the position and conditlon of the leaf on belt Gr can be observed, as the leaf passes to the booking machine. The disk roll. 29, with fingers 3 coacting with belt G, assure the proper fee'dof the leaf as it passes from the rolls B, C to the belt. By this construction and the position of the rolls 22, 29 close to the knives 13, 19, and by making the knife 19 so as to substantially bridge the space between the roll C and the belt G, as shown particularly in Fig. 6, I am able to handle short tobacco, which is very important.

The roll frame D carrying the rolls and upper scraper, is pivoted by arms 30 and givot 31 on frame A, so that the roll frame with the arts carried thereby may be swung away rom the booking roll and belt; permittin free access to the latter, the frame D being held in the withdrawn position by stops 32 coacting with shoulders on the frame and held in operative position by stops 34 engaging the frame. The bar 23, and parts previously described as mounted thereon, is mounted to swing in the frame A on pivots 35, and is provided with handle 35 by which this bar and all the parts carried thereby may be swung back on these pivots toward the booking roll, thus provid ing space for the outward swinging movement of the roll frame D and parts carried thereby, In swinging back the movement is past the dead center, so that the tension of belt Gr holds the bar 23 and parts thereon in the withdrawn position.

It will be seen, therefore, that by rocking the frame carrying the upper knife 13 so as to raise the latter from the roll, and tilting back the bar-23 and partscarried thereby,

ready access to the inner sides of the rolls 3 C without IOCkHI roll frame D ma 7 he had, or the roll frame D and the parts carried thereby may be rocked forward for free access to these parts and to the booking portion of the machine.

Referring now to the booking portion of the machine, the booking belt G passes from above the rolls 22, 25 around the booking drum F, then around rolls 36, 38 mounted in parallel swinging arms 39, 39 andlinks 37 connecting the rolls, the arms 39being pivoted by shaft 40 in the frame of the machine. From roll. 38 the booking belt passes around roll 4-1 carriedby arms 1-2 mounted by shaft 43 in the frame, and thence around. fixed roll 44 to the underside of roll 22. The booking belt with its rolls 36, 38, may be thrown upward and rearward away from thesurface of the drum F into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, so as to give ready avcess to the booked leaves thereon for removal or other wise, the connections for this purpose being as follows: Shaft 40, carrying arms 39, links 37 and rolls 38 and 36, has rearwardly extending actuating arm 45 connected by link 46 to one arm 4:7 of a crank lever on pivot stud 48, the other arm 49 being connected by link 50 to an arm 5.1 of a crank lever mounted on pivot stud 52, the other arm forming handle 53 foroperatlng 1t, so that by throwing the handle 53 forward, arm 45 is drawn down to rock shaft 40 and raise the belt and rolls 36, 33 away from the drum. The belt is held under tension while thus thrown back, by tension roll all spring pressed by spring 5 1- connected to the frame and to an arm 55 on rock shaft 43 of the roll carrying arms 412. Arm 45 carries stop 5 coacting with arm 46 on the return of the parts. to operative position.

It is desirable that the belt should be held extended transversely and in proper position, and for this purpose the opposite edges of the belt are provided with in vwardly extending enlarged edges whi h run mitting the belt to bow into the space between the disks formin roll 36 by drawing the disks toward eac other against the tension of spring 8. The bunch is thus accommodated while the required pressure of the belt opposite roll 36 is secured. It will be seen that the roll 36 is positioned so that the belt keeps control of the leaf practically throughout the revolution of the drum.

The driving mechanism shown is as follows, but may, of course, be of any other suitable form:

The power shaft 56 drives the lower roll C directly through chain belt 57 with spring pressed tension roll 58, and the two rolls B, C are geared together by two gears 59. It will be understood that belt 57 will be thrown off when frame D is tipped forward. Shaft 56 drives the booking roll F through pinion 61 on the shaft 56, gear 62, intermediate 63 and gear 64 on the roll shaft.

Any suitable one revolution clutch and stop may be used for the purpose of stopping the booking roll in proper position at the end of each rotation, so as to receive and book in proper position a leaf at each rotation of the roll. The machine shown is equipped, however, for booking two pads of leaves simultaneously, or a single pad, the machine taking either two leaves at each rotation of the roll or a single leaf, and for this purpose the preferred construction shown is as follows: Gear 62, through which the booking roll is driven is mounted on a sleeve 65 splined on a shaft 66, and this sleeve carries also another gear 67, a spring pressed key 68 being carried by the end of shaft 66 within sleeve 65, which key projects through the sleeve and keys one or the other of gears 62, 67 to the sleeve 65, by engagement with recesses 9 in the hubs of the gears, these recesses and the outer end of key 68 being rounded so as to permit the key to move with shaft 66 from one gear to the other by yielding of the key against spring pressure. Sleeve 65 carries stop 100 in position to engage stop 101 on the frame, which is mounted to slide vertically so as to be withdrawn out of the path of stop 100 by link 69 actuated by treadle 70, the stop and treadle being connected to swinging arm 71 which is linked to one arm of hell crank lever 72, the other arm of which is connected by link 73 to clutch lever 74, which controls clutch 75 by which shaft 56 is connected to or disconnected from power pulley 76. This clutch may be of any suitable form, but is shown as that of my Patent No. 1,088,425, February 2 1, 1914. Downward movement of the treadle thus withdraws stop 101 to permit the rotation of sleeve 65 with shaft 66 and at the same time throws in clutch to drive shaft 56 and parts operated thereby, and, the treadle then being released, stop 101 returns to position in the path of stop 100 and acts to stop the well known in the sleeve 65 and the operating parts of the machine against the friction of clutch 75 at the end of one revolution of the sleeve 65.

lVith the parts connected as shown in the drawing, that is, with gear 62 keyed to sleeve 65 by key 68, the booking drum F will make one full rotation during each revolution of the sleeve 65 and one leaf or pad will be booked. If two pads of leaves are to be booked on roll F by making one-half rotation of the drum F at each operation of the machine, shaft 66 will be moved longitudinally to the right in Fig. 2 by handle 77, thus releasing gear 62 from sleeve 65 and keying gear 67 to the sleeve, in which case the sleeve 65 with stop 100 will be rotated by gear 67 driven by gear 7 8 on shaft 56, and at such speed that it makes a full revolution during a half rotation of booking roll F. If a leaf be then fed to the rolls B, C over feeding board E at each starting of the machine by treadle 70, two pads of leaves will be booked in proper position on booking roll F. Returning to booking a single pad on the roll F may be made simply by drawing shaft 66 to the left by handle 77 into the position shown in Fig. 2, in which gear 62 is keyed to sleeve 65. Any suitable arrangement may be used for enabling the operator to stop the drum during a rotation if desired, such means being art and, therefore, not ilustrated.

lVhile the invention has been described in connection with a complete machine, combining the operations of stem rolling and booking the complete leaf. and the invention relates especially to such a combined machine, it will be understood that the invention includes certain features which may be used in separate machines for stem treating or for booking, and is thus claimed.

hat is claimed is:

1. The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the tobacco leaf is fed, of a booking drum, a booking belt coacting with the drum and of such width as to properly support the whole leaf, said belt being arranged at one side of tne crushing rolls with no part of the belt touching the rolls, and a belt roll closely adjacent to the delivery side of said stem crushing rolls and around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the crushingrolls.

2. The combination .with stem crushing rolls between which the tobacco leaf is fed, of a booking drum, a booking belt coacting with the drum and arranged at one side of the rolls with no part of the belt passing between the rolls, a belt roll closely adjacent to the delivery side of said stem crushing rolls and around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the crushing rolls, and an upper roll coacting with the feeding end of the belt in receiving the leaf from the crushing rolls.

3. The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the tobaccoleaf is fed, of a booking drum, a booking belt coacting with the drum, a belt roll closely adjacent to the delivery side of said stem crushing rolls and around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the crushing rolls and a disk roll with guide fingers between the disks coacting with the feeding end of the belt'in receiving the leaves from the crushing rolls.

4. The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the tobacco leaf is fed, of a booking drum, a booking belt coacting with the drum a belt roll closely adjacent to the delivery side of said stem crushing rolls and around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the crushing rolls, a disk roll with guide fingers between the disks coacting with the feeding end of the belt in receiving the leaves from the crushing rolls, and a guide plate extending from said disk roll over the booking belt for guiding the leaf on the belt until it reaches the booking drum and provided with openings for inspection of the leaf.

The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the tobacco leaf is fed, of a booking drum, a booking belt coacting with the drum, a belt roll closely adjacent to the delivery side of said stem crushing rolls and around which said booking belt basses to receive the leaf from the crushing rolls, disk roll with guidefingers between the disks coacting with the feeding end of the belt in receiving the leaves from the crushing rolls, and a guide plate extending from said disk roll toward the booking drum over the booking belt for holding the leaf on the belt, said disk roll, lingers, and guide being detachably mounted on the belt support for access to the upper surface of the belt.

6. The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the tobacco leaf is fed, of a booking drum, a booking belt coacting with the drum, a belt roll closely adjacent to the delivery side of said stem crushing rolls and around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the crushing rolls, and a scraper or knife coacting with the lower crushing roll and bridging the space between the belt and roll.

7 The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the tobacco leaf is fed, of a booking drum, a booking belt coacting with the drum, and a belt roll closely adjacent to the delivery side of said stem crushing rolls and around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the crushingrolls, said belt roll being mounted in a frame pivoted centrally to rock lon gitudinally of the stem crushing rolls.

8. The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the tobacco leaf is fed of a booking drum, a booking belt coaeting with thedru'm, a belt roll closelyadjacent to the delivery side of said stem crushing rolls'and' around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the crushing rolls, said belt roll being mounted in a frame pivoted centrally to rock longitudinally of the stemcrushingrolls, and a scraper or knife coacting with the lower crushing roll and mounted on said frame to rock with the belt roll.

9.'The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the tobacco leaf is fed, a belt roll closely adjacent to the delivery side of said stem crushing rolls and around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the crushing rolls, said belt roll being mounted in a frame pivoted centrally to rock longitudinally of the stem crushing rolls, a scraper or knife coacting with the lower crushing roll and mounted on said frame to rock with the belt roll, and a scraper or knife coaeting with the upper stem crushing roll and pivoted centrally to rock longitudinally of the stem crushing roll. 10. The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the tobacco leaf is fed, of a booking drum; a booking belt coacting with the drum and a belt roll closely adjacent to thedelivery side of said stein erushing rolls and around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the crushing rolls, said belt roll being mounted on a support movable toward and away from the crushing rolls for access to the latter.

1.1. The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the tobacco leaf is fed, of a booking drum, a bookingbelt coacting with the drum, abelt roll closely adjacent to the delivery side of said stein crushing rolls and around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the crushing rolls and a scraper or knife coacting with the lower roll and carried by the belt roll support, said support being mounted to swing vertically, whereby the belt tension holds the scraper or knife against the crushing roll. 7

. 2. The combination with stem crushing rolls between which theleaf is fed and a booking drum and booking belt adjacent the rolls, of a frame in which the rolls are carried and mounted to have a wide movement toward and away from the drum and belt so as to leave a clear space between the rolls and drum and belt when moved away from the latter to provide easy access to these parts. 1

13. The combination with stem crushing rolls between which the leaf-is fed, of a book ing drum, a booking belt enacting with'the drum, a belt roll closely adjacent'to the delivery line of said stem crushing rolls and around which said booking belt passes to receive the leaf from the rolls, said belt roll being carried by support pivoted to swing away from the lower crushing roll, and a frame carrying the crushingrolls and mounted to swing away from the booking drum and belt when the belt support is swung away from the crushing roll.

1d. In a tobacco leaf treating machine, two coacting stem crushing rolls of uniform diameter and surface hardness throughout mounted in l carings for relative adjustment, springs for pressing said rolls apart, and means for positively adjusting said rolls toward each other and holding them in fixed adjusted position against the tension of said springs in position for rolling the stem withoutinjury to the leaf.

In a tobacco leaf treating machine, the combination with two stem crushing rolls of uniform diameter and surface hardness throughout and mounted for relative adjustment, or" means for positively adjusting said rolls and holding them in fixed adjusted position for rolling the stem without injury to the leaf.

16. The combination with tobacco feeding rolls, of a booking belt, a belt roll closely adjacent to the delivery side of the rolls, and a scraper or knife coacting with the lower roll and bridging the space between the feeding and belt ro ls.

The combination with tobacco feeding of a booking belt, a belt roll closely ent to the delivery side of t 1e rolls, and trailer or knife coacting with the lower brdging the space between the feedit ""oll, said belt roll and knife ed to rock longitudinall of the 18. The combination with a tobacco feeding roll. of a scraperor knife coacting with said roll and pivoted to rock longitudinally of the roll.

19. The combination with tobacco stem crushing rolls, of scrapers or knives coacting with said rolls and pivoted to rock longitudinally of the rolls.

20. The combination with a tobacco booking drum, of a booking belt, and a belt support formed of heads supporting the opposite side portions of the belt with an intermediate portion unsupported, whereby eX- essive pressure on theipad between said belt and drum is prevented.

21. in a tobacco booking machine, a booking belt in combination with a belt support formed with end heads having relative endwise movement and spring-pressed apart,

whereby the pad engaging portion of the belt may yield by drawing the disk together against the spring pressure.

22. The combination with the belt Gr, of roll shaft 7, disks 36 movable endwise on said shaft, said belt having an edge connec tion to the heads, and spring 8 holding the disks apart.

The combination with a tobacco booking drum, of driving means for rotating said drum at a constant speed, an automatic stop, and change driving mechanism for rotating said stop at different rates of speed relatively to the drum, whereby the stop may be actuated to stop the drum after movements of different extent.

2%. The combination with a tobacco booking drum, of a power shaft and gearing by which said drum is driven, an automatic stop rotating during the rotation of the drum for stopping the latter at the end of a leaf booking movement, change gearing for driving said stop from the power shaft at dit ferent rates of speed relatively to the booking drum, and means for connecting said stop to the gearing for varying the speed of the stop without changing the speed of the drum.

The combination with rolls B, C, of frame D carrying the rolls and pivoted to swing into position for access to the rolls, sc 'aper or knife 13 coacting with the upper roll, and a carrier for said scraper mounted on said frame D and movable thereon to bring said scraper into position for inspection and cleaning without moving frame D.

26. The combination with rolls B, C, of booking belt G, belt roll 22 close to the delivery side of the rolls, scraper or knife 19 reacting with roll C over which the leaf passes to the belt, disk roll 29 above the belt roll, and a guide above the belt having fin- ;rers 3 between the disks, said disk roll and guide being detachable for access to the belt.

27. The combination with rolls B, C, of booking belt G, belt roll 22 closely adjacent to the delivery side of the rolls, a scraper or knife coat-ting with roll C and over which the leaf passes to the belt, and a support carrying the belt roll and knife and mounted to swing toward and from the rolls.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

GRAHAM H. JACKSON.

lVit-nesses Gnnrnnon SCI-IOTT, ELIZA Mom. 

